Simple Winter Maintenance Tips – Don’t Skip These!

When the weather outside is frightful, the conditions often change inside, too. Whether the ambient air is drier or the pressure is weaker, these seasonal changes can affect your process and your equipment. To keep your operation in operation and extend the life of your equipment, try these quick winter maintenance checks:

AODD Pumps: Every wear part has a finite life expectancy. Valve balls, diaphragms, gaskets and other pump parts are designed to fail at some point even with proper use. Take a look for any leakage or pressure changes and be sure to keep spare parts on hand just in case.

Electric Pumps: Drum pumps and other electric pumps are not intended to squeal. If you hear a squealing sound then shut it down and check the motor bearings. Don’t try to stretch their life too far. If the bearings fail, the motor shaft will seize and cause the pump to fail.

Filter Chambers: In plating and surface finishing, the entire process relies on a clean, contaminant-free bath. Keep an eye on the pressure gauges to monitor the load on the filter and be sure to replace the filters before the plating bath becomes contaminated.

Heaters: Fresh filter chambers and a contaminant-free cleaning bath keep your heaters free from scale. Look for any scale buildup and remove it before any hot spots form, which can damage the heaters and cut into heating efficiency.

Process Controls: Are you getting an accurate temperature reading from the process tanks? Since the process depends on the temperature, take a minute and test the RTD sensors. They don’t last forever and it’s best to find out if they are failing before noticing it in product quality.

What’s your top winter maintenance tip? Send to sales@reliable-equipment.com and we’ll include it in our next email newsletter with a link to your Website.